A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

HAITI: Janitors strike forces country's biggest hospital to turn away patients

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ A two-week strike by janitors and support staff has forced Haiti's largest hospital to turn away patients, officials said Thursday.

Doctors and nurses are not taking part in the protest but say garbage piling up inside Port-au-Prince's General Hospital has made it impossible to practice medicine.

"We can't even use the operating room due to the garbage and unhealthy conditions," said one doctor, Dezard Ulick.

Only homeless patients with nowhere else to go are staying at the hospital.

The striking employees are demanding four weeks' worth of unpaid wages, ambulances and the rehiring of colleagues who recently lost their jobs. They say hospital and government officials have not met with them about their concerns.

Workers held a similar protest last year, at one point removing the corpses of 11 infants from the morgue and laying them out in a courtyard to pressure the government for back wages.

Haiti's cash-strapped government, still reeling from a 2004 rebellion that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has struggled to pay thousands of public employees, many of whom have gone months without a salary.

ST. LUCIA: Police question 4 teens in killing of government official

CASTRIES, St. Lucia (AP) _ St. Lucian detectives questioned four teenagers Thursday in the fatal stabbing of a senior government official.

The four unidentified teens were suspected of involvement in the killing of Marcia Philbert-Jules, the southern Caribbean island's permanent secretary in the Ministry of Planning, police said in a statement.

Philbert-Jules was found naked in her bathroom with multiple stab wounds, and died Monday shortly after being taken to a hospital. Police have not charged anyone with her murder, the 15th this year in the former British and French territory.

Home to some 168,000 inhabitants, St. Lucia had a record 43 murders last year, up from 37 in each of the two previous years.

At a prayer vigil Wednesday, islanders memorialized Philbert-Jules and called for an end to the violence, which police say is largely due to drug trafficking.

GUYANA: Army officer faces trial over missing weapons

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) _ An army officer has gone on trial for alleged involvement in last year's disappearance of more than 30 military rifles and five pistols from an arms depot, the Guyana Defense Force said Thursday.

Lt. Col. Tony Ross, whose court martial began Tuesday, was in charge of the storage facility at army headquarters when the weapons went missing, the military said.

Police have recovered only 14 rifles, including some linked to bank robberies and other crimes. The government has withheld promotions among the army's leadership to press for more to be recovered.

Warrant officer John Peters, who held the keys to the depot, was convicted last week of prejudicial conduct of a soldier following a two-month court martial. He was demoted and sentenced to one year in prison.

CRICKET: West Indies beats England by 15 runs to post first international win on tour

LONDON (AP) _ West Indies finally won a cricket match against England on Thursday, taking the first of two Twenty20 internationals by 15 runs after a thrilling finish at The Oval.

Devon Smith smashed seven fours and three sixes from 34 balls for 61 and Marlon Samuels four sixes for 51 from 22 balls as West Indies posted 208-8, the fourth-highest total in Twenty20 internationals.

But having lost the four-test series 3-0, West Indies almost let it slip after a mid-innings surge from England.

Led by new limited-overs captain Paul Collingwood's 79 from 41 deliveries, England reached 193-7 to just fall short after leaving itself 23 runs to score off the final over.

The second Twenty20 international is Friday at The Oval in London.